Sierra Wireless announced on Tuesday that it had completed the sale of all assets and operations related to its AirCard business to NETGEAR for $138 million plus $5.9 million in assumed liabilities. The company will continue to do business through its AirPrime embedded wireless modules, AirLink intelligent gateways, and AirVantage machine-to-machine (M2M) cloud product lines.
“Sierra Wireless is now an M2M and connected device pure play, focused on providing innovative device-to-cloud solutions that enable customers across a broad range of markets to connect to the ‘Internet of Things’,” Jason Cohenour, president and CEO of Sierra Wireless, said in a statement as seen on Financial Post. “This transaction provides significant financial capacity to accelerate our growth in M2M – a market in which we are the world leader today, with the industry’s broadest product lineup, and an extensive, blue-chip customer base.”
The company first announced that they entered into agreement talks late in January; and plans to use a substantial portion of the money gained in the transaction to continue its acquisition strategy in the M2M market, with the goal of increasing revenue and earnings growth by strengthening its leadership in existing markets and expanding its position in the M2M value chain.
“(The ‘Internet of Things’) is a strategy we have been pursuing with great success since 2007,” said Cohenour. “We are the world leader in this dynamic market, with the industry’s broadest product lineup, solutions across the value chain and an extensive, blue-chip customer base. In addition to realizing a solid return for the AirCard business, this transaction will provide significant financial resources and capacity to accelerate our growth in M2M and connected device solutions.”
Sierra Wireless offers leading products and solutions for connected devices and M2M communications over cellular networks, offering 2G, 3G and 4G wireless modems, routers and gateways as well as a comprehensive suite of software, tools, and services.
Edited by
Brooke Neuman